Hooray For Monday

In this interview from the archives, Jenna and Meag talk with elementary math teacher Sheena Styles about what it means to create a learning environment where curiosity leads and students are empowered to guide their own discoveries. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

As June comes to a close and Pride Month celebrations wind down, we wanted to share a post from our archives that offers suggestions for meeting the ABCDEs of Learner Needs through the lens of gender and sexuality inclusivity.

As the Inspired Teaching team prepares to kick off the next school year of building community and supporting the educators in our community, we're sharing an issue of Hooray For Monday from the beginning of the 2024-2025 Fellowship year. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-mon...

Aleta speaks with renowned author and advocate Jonathan Kozol, about his latest book, "We Shall Not Back Down." Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Reflecting on a recent intergenerational Speak Truth and the lessons to be learned about supporting our students in this moment. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and info on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

The Inspired Teaching team is sharing our picks for the Inspired Summer '26 playlist. Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/58QZih9TDjRKYNJRzY0ZUH?si=VJJ4sfopRfO3ZCW3QozoGw Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and information on Inspired Teaching programming and events:

As we look forward to the start of the 2026-2027 Teaching with Improvisation Fellowship this June and a new cohort of teachers starting their Inspired Teaching journeys, we're sharing an episode from 2025 that reflects on the key characteristics of an Inspired Teacher: curiosity, kindness, and critical thought. Revolution in the Classroom: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/08/2...

Listen for Jenna's conversation with Sabrina Burroughs and Ben Wilhelm. Ben was Sabrina's student-teacher 4 years ago and is now her colleague at John Lewis Elementary School. They share how their relationship has benefited them both, how they nurture curiosity in their kindergarten students, and what community looks like in their school. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and upd...

This week’s issue of Hooray For Monday is a contribution from an Inspired Teaching Fellow who we’ve worked with for many years now, Kim Kelley. Ms. Kelley is a teacher at Goodwill Excel Center here in Washington, DC, and, as you’ll hear in her conversation with Meag shortly, her high school classroom is a bit unusual: Kim’s students are non-traditional. They’re learners who, for many reasons, did...

Aleta reflects on more than 30 years of teaching teachers whose work we're grateful for every day, in recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Listen to the Hooray For Monday episode with Andrea Durio here: https://soundcloud.com/in...

In this week’s Hooray For Monday, Jenna’s conversation with Michael Skinner (Board President of Mott’s Neighborhood Market in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC) highlights the many ways the resource of community can be harnessed to make real change—whether that’s in our neighborhoods or in our school buildings. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspir...

Inspired Teaching Fellow and ESL teacher in Washington, DC Lasharn Rodriguez shares with us her approach to building community and creating learning environments where her students feel safe and seen--inspired by her own childhood growing up in The Bronx. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events:

Inspired Teaching Fellow and SEL teacher Emily Hall shares her insight into bringing students' feelings to the forefront in learning. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Teachers have access to an infinite resource that is proven, time and again, to not only improve cognitive skills, but to also increase uncertainty tolerance, build community, and nurture an authentic love of learning: Curiosity. When we dig into our own curiosity—and school leaders create professional learning opportunities to support their teachers in this work—we set the stage for classrooms an...

While we are far from having any certainty with AI use in the classroom, we do have a growing number of examples from educators around the world and researchers to help us navigate that uncertainty--including a conversation with math teacher Inspired Teaching Fellow Andrea Durio about her experience with VR headsets. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teach...

Inspired Teaching's Project Manager Meag Campos speaks with teachers at her son's high school -- New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in Louisiana--about a lesson they've created in math and science that teaches to standards and is authentically engaging for students. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteachi...

Revisit our conversation with Christa Barfield, healthcare adminstrator-turned-urban-farmer, in this interview from July 2023. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Learn more about FarmerJawn and the work they are doing in the Philadelphia metro area: https://www.farmerjaw...

In the second half of Aleta's conversation with award-winning journalist and author Maggie Jackson, they discuss the deep connection between uncertainty and curiosity, and why embracing both is critical to learning and thriving in the classroom and outside of it. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching events and programming: https://inspiredteaching.or...

Aleta speaks with author Maggie Jackson about uncertainty (the title of her latest book!) Maggie Jackson is a long-time journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR among many others and whose 2018 book, Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention, led the charge on the conversations we’re having today about technology’s impact—for bet...

One person who always comes to mind when we think of the observation is Pax Linson, an early childhood educator, longtime friend of Inspired Teaching, and an avid birdwatcher. Before she retired, Pax spent time observing hundreds of classrooms all over Washington DC, both for Inspired Teaching and DC Public Schools. And upon her retirement, she shifted her skills of observation to a different purs...

In early 2024, Aleta spoke with renowned author, activist, and educator about this extraordinary lifetime of work, including his latest and last book, An End to Inequality. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and important information on Inspired Teaching programming and events:

We crave understanding. We want to know what things mean. And if we’re getting feedback—good, bad, or in-between—it’s so much better if that feedback is specific and meaningful. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/

Jenna and Michelle discuss how Groundhog Day the movie is an appropriate metaphor for the work Inspired Teaching has been doing for decades. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and updates on Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Download the 2024-2025 Inspired Teaching Annual Report: The World Economic Forum's whitepaper:

Chief Curiosity Officer Jenna speaks with research specialist Maria about New Year's Resolutions pitfalls, and she shares how a recent classroom visit was a great lesson on learning from mistakes. Subscribe to Hooray For Monday to receive weekly resources and important updates on Inspired Teaching programs and events: https://inspiredteaching.org/subscribe-hooray-for-monday/ Audio clip from Scient...

This week's Hooray For Monday originally aired in January 2024 and features Jenna's insights on new habits for the new year, inspired by the writing of James Clear. Read the written version: https://inspiredteaching.org/archives-reset-room-hooray-for-monday/ Subscribe to Hooray For Monday for weekly resources and information on Inspired Teaching programming and events: https://inspiredteaching.org...